At the beginning of 2020, I was hesitant to travel due to a small sprouting in the number of Covid-19 cases in different parts of the world. In late-Feb / early-Mar, it seemed that the pandemic had not yet spread to the western world and so with some trepidation, I decided to visit Los Angeles for a one week work trip. While the trip went fine and I got back safely in the nick of time, it has turned out to be the only trip since then.
At the time, I was naive to believe that the world would be back to normal by the summer and we would be able to travel again. Or if we cannot travel for leisure, at least we would be able to visit India too see our family. All that was wishful thinking. The raging pandemic and implementation of one of the strictest travel restrictions in the world by Singapore has left us stranded. I’m grateful for the excellent covid response in Singapore, providing a safe haven in this crisis. However, living in the same place day in and day out, not being able to even drive to anywhere else has been difficult.
Birthdays have come and gone, so have anniversaries, festivals and seasons. We’ve moved apartments, become so well adjusted to working-from-home, endured being away from family, weathered lockdowns and craved the freedom of movement we always took for granted. And yet, somehow we’ve made it through, so far. Here’s a short video on how we spent the Covid-19 Lockdown days in Singapore.
As January 2021 is about to end, it’s hard to believe that we (all of us) have been in this for an year. Isn’t it? Who knew we had so much forbearance? Yes the vaccines are here but it isn’t over yet – and so we need to remind ourselves to keep at it.
It’s becoming tougher though – as with each passing day, the restlessness to visit somewhere grows. The excitement when stepping into a different country at an airport, the joy of being on a road trip, the exhilaration of being in nature wild and free and so much more of what you experience while travelling – is that intangible something that no amount of movie watching, book reading or podcast listening can replace for me. These last few months have made me realize how much I love to travel and I can’t wait till we can get back to it.
Until then, each day is a test of patience and self-restraint. We live on hope and the promise of a better tomorrow.
– Sakshi
